


this is not the world we had in mind (but we've got time)

by thislilalien



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Don't Judge Me, F/M, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Not Beta Read, The Author Regrets Everything, i know it's really bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28130316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thislilalien/pseuds/thislilalien
Summary: If this is the final battle, and I’m dying soon, I want to spend my final moments with Squirrelflight.The thought pops into his head so suddenly, he’s almost hit by the cat he’s fighting, and has to stumble backwards to avoid the next few strikes. Squirrelflight gives him a weird look and a snort. He’ll take it.He’s really bad at this anger thing, isn’t he.Sort of an exploration of how Brambleclaw felt during the Great Battle, and why he forgave Squirrelflight.
Relationships: Brambleclaw & Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw/Squirrelflight (Warriors), Firestar & Brambleclaw, Firestar/Sandstorm (Warriors)
Kudos: 9





	this is not the world we had in mind (but we've got time)

Brambleclaw isn’t really sure what’s currently happening. He was just told that his kits were part of a prophecy, and that they had known all along. The fact that Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf knew all along, and that he never had a clue, makes him feel like the crappiest father in the history of the clans. 

(Yes, he knows that they’re not really his kits, but still. He wishes they were.)

The days pass by in a blur. Brambleclaw’s mostly spending his days in a daze, mulling over his actions from the past few moons ( _ was I right to be so mad at Squirrelflight? _ ), and before he knows it, the battle has started. He finds himself fighting next to Squirrelflight, and he tries not to think too much of the way she’s fighting so naturally next to him, how their flanks brush every so often, or the way Squirrelflight sends him a small smirk or smile every time they score a good hit. Or the way that he’d trust her with his life, completely, and without a doubt.

_ If this is the final battle, and I’m dying soon, I want to spend my final moments with Squirrelflight.  _ The thought pops into his head so suddenly, he’s almost hit by the cat he’s fighting, and has to stumble backwards to avoid the next few strikes. Squirrelflight gives him a weird look and a snort. He’ll take it.

He’s really bad at this anger thing, isn’t he.

Shaking himself to clear his thoughts, he attacks, leaping back into the fray.

When Hollyleaf dies, not too much time later, he’s absolutely furious, because father or not, he raised her. (He doesn’t think about how he rejected them after realising that they weren’t his. He knows that he was wrong, now. Even though it’s too late.) Brambleclaw’s reasonably sure that he’s managed to kill about five Dark Forest cats so far in his rage, and he doesn’t want to stop. He welcomes the chance to kill his half-brother. Whatever bond they might have shared, has been long shattered, ever since Hawkfrost tried to kill Firestar and then killed Hollyleaf.

He thinks of it as avenging his daughter, not avenging a clanmate.

But right after Brambleclaw kills Hawkfrost, Tigerstar appears, and after their battle, both Firestar and Tigerstar are dead, and Sandstorm looks absolutely shattered.  _ I would be, too, if Squirrelflight had died. _

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

Firestar was supposed to win, and stay alive. And yet he hadn’t, and too early, Brambleclaw was now Bramblestar.

He stares across the crowd of cats, trying to decide who he’ll appoint as deputy. And then he knows. He’ll appoint the cat who he trusts the most, the cat who he knows he can rely on, the cat who has always done the things she always thinks is right.

Squirrelflight.

_ This is not the world we had in mind. None of us thought Firestar would be dead by the end of it. _

_ But we’ve got enough time to fix everything, and mend our scars. _

(this is not the world we had in mind, but we’ve got time)

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, i know it's bad.
> 
> For anyone who needs/wants to know what song this fic was inspired by, it's _Different World_ , by Alan Walker.


End file.
